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Launch of nef’s radical review of the global economy - the Real World Economic Outlook - edited by Ann Pettifor In the first week of September, the New Economics Foundation launched its flagship publication, Real World Economic Outlook, in London. The book sold out within a week, with the publisher rushing to re-print. Copies are available direct from the publisher (see below), from bookshops, but also Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. The theme of this issue is: The legacy of Globalisation: Debt and Deflation. The report warns of a coming First World debt crisis, and demonstrates that capital flows are now moving from south to north – something the Real World Economic Outlook defines as the “Hoover Effect” of sucking wealth from the poor and transferring it to the rich. As well as ground-breaking research into the global economy as a whole, the report reviews the global economy by region – providing outlooks for each major region of the world. The Real World Economic Outlookshadows the IMF's bi-ennial report on the global economy - the World Economic Outlook - and does so from the perspective of economic and environmental justice. To join the queue for copies, go to the Palgrave Macmillan website. http://www.palgrave.com/catalogue/catalogue.asp?Title_Id=1403917957 Contributors include Romilly Greenhill and Andrew Simms of the New Economics Foundation, and visiting contributors Prof. Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Prof. Jayati Ghosh, Prof. Gita Sen, Prof. Joseph Stiglitz, Prof. Wynne Godley, Prof. Franklin Serrano, Janet Bush, Prof. Erinc Yeldan, Dean Baker and Prof. Herman Daly, See also: Press Releases
Comments and reviews
This
is what the IMF thinks of our Real World Economic Outlook: What they think of Real World Economic Outlook... “…….the
publication of the first Real World Economic Outlook is a sign of the
fast-growing maturity of the global justice movement. The creativity and
innovation of the new transnational networks of civil society, from churches
and trade unions through to consumer and environmental NGOs, is shaping an
economic agenda that offers credible policy alternatives. It argues that more
equitable human development or ecological balance can be achieved by a
redirection of economic activity. And it exposes the reality that debt is as
systemic a by-product as pollution or global warming of a global political
economy locked into inequality and unsustainability. Ed Mayo, Director of the National Consumer Council, formerly chair of Jubilee 2000 and Executive Director of the New Economics Foundation. This first l Real World Economic Outlook could not be more timely, as the world economy lurches from crisis to crisis toward a general debt deflation reminiscent of the Great Depression of the 1930s. In the opening chapter, Ann Pettifor, moving spirit and principal editor of this excellent initiative, explains that ‘globalization’ is driven by an instituted process of deregulation of financial capital from national and international control. The ever mounting debts of governments and corporations, at high real rates of interest sustained by central banks and international financial institutions, drive international competition, mergers and acquisitions – and the systematic disestablishment of social support systems. The contributors to this volume from North and South include eminent economists Joseph Stiglitz, Dani Rodrik, Robert Wade and Herman Daly. The authors combine professional excellence with lucid styles of writing accessible to the general public. In the context of the gross imbalance of resources available to critics of economic globalization, the Real World Economic Outlook is an essential and welcome corrective to the annual publications of the World Bank and the IMF. Kari Polanyi-Levitt Emeritus Professor of Economics, McGill University "Too much of what passes as economic analysis is used to justify the status quo. This book provides absolutely the right diagnosis of globalisation. It tells it as it really is." Larry Elliott, The Guardian "The strength and originality of ‘the real world economic outlook’ is that it doesn’t take the usual line that the only option available to tackle global decline is to tinker with globalisation. Instead it substantiates in detail the case for its unequivocal and courageous conclusion that ‘the great transformation’ lies in REVERSING this process. Their final conclusion that the coming US economic crisis could result in that country leading the world towards ‘localization’ tantalisingly rounds off this valuable, innovative and hope inducing report." Colin Hines, author of Localisation - a global manifesto, former head of Greenpeace International's Economics Unit and is an Associate of the International Forum on Globalization "In the unreal world of corporate spin and wars fought for ficticious reasons, Real World Economic Outlook, brought out by a group of engaged and rooted economists, gives a much-needed reality check about the mess we're in and ways for getting out of it" Vandana Shiva, Director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in New Delhi Many churchgoers read the gospel as it if it has no economics. Economics, they argue, is for specialists, not for them. But money, economics and inequality are at the heart of the scriptures. Africans, particularly those in the new South Africa, are often blinded, and intimidated by the “science” of economics, and in particular by the economics of globalisation. This annual report on the global economy – Real World Economic Outlook – lifts the veil of complexity behind which many economists hide, makes economics easy to understand and explains the mechanisms which have led to historically unprecedented inequalities between the many who are poor, and the few who are now incredibly rich. If we are to challenge this injustice, and the politicians and economists that perpetuate it, then it is vital that we educate ourselves, move beyond mere rhetoric, and begin to challenge the so-called “science” of economics. This book does just that, which is why it is essential reading for Africans – in particular those in the churches, in universities and in finance ministries.
Grace and Peace
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